Sabbath

Today we are taking a real Sabbath and skipping church. Heeheehee. Yesterday was full of a memorial service for a dear woman from my childhood as was last Saturday when I attended the memorial service for a neighbor from our old neighborhood in Seattle. We also attended THRIVE, the garden art show that my sister-in-law, Kim, organized at the Arboretum in Seattle on Saturday. The rain held off but it was cool and grey. I know Kim was disappointed with some aspects of how it turned out but we were very impressed! I am going out today to weed my garden and make some room for artwork in the future. I am inspired!

Here are some pictures from our walk on Saturday around the Arboretum. The rhododendrons were all in spectacular bloom.

We are realizing once again, that our lives have become too full of "going" and not enough of "staying" and addressing the truly important things in our life together as a family; like taking time to get organized, the implementation of strategies to save our sanity and getting rid of clutter as it comes along. Todd and I are too much alike in some ways. We both want to have all the fun and let someone else take care of the boring stuff.

I'm going back to my books on Sabbath. Especially, Wayne Muller's, Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal and Delight in our Busy Lives.

Here are some quotes and passages:

"Our willingness to rest depends on what we believe we will find there. At rest, we come face-to-face with the essence of life. If we believe life is fundamentally good, we will seek out rest as a taste of that goodness. If we believe life is fundamentally bad or flawed, we will be reluctant to quiet ourselves, afraid of meeting the darkness that resides in things--or in ourselves."
________________________________
WILL

Three generations back
my family had only

to light a candle
and the world parted.

Today, Friday afternoon,
I disconnect clocks and phones.

When night fills my house
with passages,

I begin saving
my life.

---Marcia Falk

"Sabbath time can be a revolutionary challenge to the violence of overwork, mindless accumulation, and the endless multiplication of desires, responsibilities, and accomplishments. Sabbath is a way of being in time where we remember who we are, remember what we know, and taste the gifts of spirit and eternity."